Thursday, September 17, 2015

The mugger of Ganges Harbour







Saltspring Island has just about everything. This morning I saw a megayacht, but then that is normal, but the crocodile was interesting..... And then I remembered a Kipling story called 'The Mugger of Mugger Ghaut' and put Ganges, our island village and Ganges, the Indian river together. A 'mugger' is a crocodile. So, in a twisted sort of way, that crocodile swinging in the breeze in Ganges Harbour has some kind of logical right of place.




Ganges, our village, was named after HMS Ganges, which was built in India and stationed on the Pacific Coast around about the time that places were being named. Up and down this coast we have many Royal Navy place names. 


The village of Vesuvius is named after HMS Vesuvius, Fulford Harbour and Baynes Peak after admirals, and the original name of Saltspring ( or Salt Spring ) was Admiralty Island.










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